4 Jan 2025: Five German News Storie

1.  CDU candidate for Chancellor (Merz) said in an interview yesterday.....if you were a migrant who'd gotten German citizenship, and did some 'bad-boy' stuff of such-and-such degree....then Germany should  be able to take away your German citizenship (thus sending you 'home').  

How this would work or the severity of your 'stupidity'?  Unknown.  I also doubt that your home-country would take you back.

2.  WELT article: One in 3 Europeans will suffer in an average year....from depression.

3.  There will be a Twitter/X 'talk' between Elon Musk and Alice Weidel (of the AfD Party) on the 9th of January.

If you were asking me how many Germans will view it?  Fewer than 1-million (I'd guess)....how many Americans?  Probably double that number.  

I hate to say it....but all that hype from ZDF/ARD (the public TV folks) from back 3 months prior to the Harris-Trump election....is coming back around to engage on the German election.    

4.  Why is Baerbock (the FM of Germany) in Damascus?

Mostly to re-kindle relations (sour with Assad for over a decade).

5  Some 'nut-case' at the Frankfurt Hauptwache subway station....pushed a mid-30s woman onto the track (minor injuries) on Thursday.  No motive given.  

Q-and-A

 1.  How 'off' are the German polling organizations (compared to the US)?

I'd say if you get numbers from INSA or FORSA....they are typically close to the final number (say within 2 points).   

2.  Isn't the whole German election about the coalition-building situation?

Yeah, it's been decades since one party (like the CDU-CSU or SPD) got 50-plus percent.  So whoever  is second, third and fourth.....matters.

3.  Do you need to be a paying member of a party....to have a say in German politics?

Look....the 'face' you see as the chief candidate....can ONLY be elected in a party conference...by paying-members of the party.  

4.  Is AfD like the make-America-great-again (MAGA) group?

No....you can't see or reflect up AfD in that fashion.  

What AfD has in terms of 'playing-cards'....is a hard-position on closing the door to migration. Right now, if you were evaluating the public for their top three positions or things they care about.....yeah, reform of migration is a high priority.  But so are jobs and the economy, doing something about crime, infrastructure, ending the war, and energy prices.  

5.  Are Germans peeved about Elon's comments?

Some Germans are peeved.....some will read the commentary but give no attention.  The problem is....there was a lot of German commentary on the Harris-Trump election (they wanted to let you know their feelings).  So here we are....where Americans want to let you know their feelings.

6. Isn't there a lot of truth-commission creations in Germany?

They need someone to blame for crap that happens.  It helps to have a commission around....finding dozens of issues, in order to prevent things being dumped on one guy/gal, or one party.

7.  How harsh will things be in 2026, if you screw around with the  police, fire-rescue, or ambulance crews (in terms of harming them)?

The Interior Minister is HINTING strongly....if accused/detained, she hopes that the laws being drafted will send you off to prison for 5 years.  If you view problems over the past five years....I'd be guessing more than a thousand arrests in 2026.....requiring some prison 'growth' to accommodate the 'boys'.

8.  Jungle Camp starts in a week or two....how big a deal is the 2-week show?

Back a decade ago...there were 7 to 8 million Germans watching it.  Last 3 years?  They've averaged 4 million.    

3 Jan 2025: Four German News Stories

 1.  After reviewing attacks on police and fire department folks from the 31st of December....the Interior Minister has now said it's time to set up serious jail-time (suggesting 5 years of prison)....if you go and threaten/harm the police/fire department/ambulance crews.

Fair amount of anger from the  public about the attacks.  This might pass and shock a number of people at jail-time.

2. Germany's Foreign Minister made a surprise visit to Syria yesterday.

3.  Chancellor Scholz sent a 'letter' to the EU....asking them to lead on economic reforms.

4.  CSU Party suggesting subsidy if you go and buy an E-car...avoiding the amount  in the deal.  Even if you said it was 5,000 Euro.....I doubt if this would convince folks to go out and buy the vehicle.

2 Jan 2025: Seven German News Stories

 1.  Germany had a goal of selling/installing 500,000 heat pumps....getting people off natural gas/oil/pellets.  For 2024....they sold roughly 200,000.  So yeah, they missed the official gov't goal.

Trend maxed-out?  Once you get the presentation....you start asking questions over the grid, electrical costs currently, and the noise-factor.   I have doubts that they exceed 200k in 2025.

2.  "We are not a country of opposition" was the quote from the Chancellor (Scholz) in the New Year's message.

The core of the short speech....Germans are unified and in solidarity, and there's just a lot of misinformation on the internet.

Not to disparage the theme.....if you walked into a pub of 100 Germans....you'd walk out three hours later in a happy mood, but suggesting that you got various opinions on forty topics.

3.  The public prosecutor's office (of Magdeburg) has filed a criminal complaint against the city of Magdeburg and the Magdeburg police station. 

In essence.....there's a suggestion that the Christmas market organizer's security concept and the police operational concept, with their implementation....will be examined in front of a court-situation.

Yeah, it could turn into a criminal investigations if someone failed in their duty.

I would imagine both the city and the police union are lawyering-up at this point.

4.  From my local city of Wiesbaden....for years, there's been a discussion about the bus/train network.  In the past year....they've shocked some folks by saying a blank-sheet-of-paper concept will be developed.  

For those who weren't into  this....the current network/schedule was a 1960s development, and just kept evolving year after year.

So far, the 430-page draft of the new plan....has surprised a number of folks.  Hidden within the draft....the idea of bringing back the idea of a city-tram  (defeated in a ballot measure by city-voters four years ago).  

On this idea of a tram....Wiesbaden is currently the largest city in Germany (290k) without a tram.  Mainz, across the river?  They run two tram routes and it's a major  part of the city transportation plan.

How revision plan affects me?  Well...they want to use smaller buses, with more frequent runs.  So they'd take away the double-bus metrobuses (80 pax) from our route into the city, and run smaller 30-to-40 pax buses....but more frequently.  The primary issue?  You need more drivers....something that the city has found to be a major problem (recruitment-wise).  

5.  Someone did a 'happiness-index' of Germany, and Kassel is considered the capital of personal happiness for people.  

6.  Non-alcohol beer/mixed-drink numbers are out for 2024....it's near 9-percent of all drinks sold.

On the alcohol beer sales....2024 was considered a 'weak' year, for Germans.

7.  From 31st.....destructive act with an excavator in Grünsfeld (SW Germany). Guy took control of an excavator ramming vehicles and buildings, plus injured three police officers with the chase.  

Event lasted an hour before cops cornered him, and shot the guy dead.

No ID given, and no motive.   Appears to be just a disgruntled German.

1 Jan 2025: Four German News Stories

 1.  INSA polling from 3 days ago: CDU-CSU still at 31-percent (no change).  AfD up .5 to 20.5-percent (SPD down .5 percent to 16.5-percent).  Greens unchanged (12-percent). 

2.  Police report at least five dead in fireworks episodes from last night, and Berlin police report over 300 arrested for safety reasons.

I'll just say locally, with serious wind conditions....attempting to light fireworks was next to impossible.

3. Almost all health insurance packages in Germany....have gone up in 2025...some as much as 2,000 Euro a year.

4. The CDU Party is discussing this curious idea....of starting pension-plans already....for kids in Germany.